Reptile & Amphibian Forums

ok well, i have an ackie, and they love to burrow, and the best thing anyone can come up with to hold burrows is normal Dirt. and i know everyone in here is going to say 'just use dirt'.... Does anyone have any better ideas? dirt sucks, its messy and when it is dry it turns into dust, and when it is wet it is ... well mud. And you have to keep it right inbetween dust and mud.. not easy. And the worst part is the stuff i have doesnt hold burrows well at all... and i have tried many different kinds. So if anyone knows of anything that will hold a burrow... let me know.. and if you have it by you and i dont... ill pay you to ship it to me ha.. thanks.
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0.1.0 BCI, 3 yr old
0.0.1 Ridge Tail Monitor, Juvi.
0.0.1 Leoperd Gecko, Juvi (My girlfriends)

I dont have ackies, and the indo monitors I have are set up without much on the way of substrate.

However, from what Ive seen with the breeders of these aussie species, is that they use a substrate that is mostly composed of sand. Ive also seen decomposed granite/ sand/ soil mixes, but with soil being the least of the three ingredients.

does this look like "plain old dirt" to you?

http://www.varanus.net/cgi-bin/eboard30/index2.cgi?frames=no&board=Main&mode=Current&message=12852

If your going to use others pics, please ask first and give credit for the pic. That is only common courtesy. Thank you, FR

I just figured that with the varanus.net link, and the fact that the pic says "goanna ranch," that it would be no mystery.
Who doesnt know that goanna ranch= frank retes? HAHAHA

Ill be more clear in the future.

Oh yeah... and the posts were by YOU! hahaha

I would have certainly allowed you to show that pic, just please be careful of using others pics. Thanks FR

"That is only common courtesy."

What a 'Hoot'! What would you know about "Common Courtesy" = You're the RUDEST person I have ever encountered!! Hahahaha - Thanks for the laugh fr.
mbayless

Results are proof. and your post is a result that proves whom is rude. You do nothing but attack, because, you have nothing else to offer. Its not rude to defend myself from your constant insane meaningless attacks.

Your post is a perfect example of that. The fact is, it is rude or non-proper conduct, to use others pics without permission or citing them. You know that. Yet, you only offer meaningless attacks, good on you, that only proves you have nothing offer and are the rude one. Your only task here is to create conflict, how good are you? Thanks for clearing that up.

It may be that you would not understand this, because you have never posted pics, I guess you have nothing to take pics of. As we all know what a book/paper looks like. Thanks FR

If you read the substrate article on ProExotic'ss website, you'll see that they believe decomposed granite is God's gift to reptile keepers. It keeps a burrow extremely well, and I can attest to this as we live on ten acres of it here in Cal. I could ship some to you, but it wouldn't be cheap. I'd just check with local landscapers. It's very common to use for baseball diamonds, etc.
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1.0 V.melinus
0.0.2 V.indicus
0.0.3 V.rudicollis
0.0.1 V.exanthematicus
0.0.1 V.niloticus

Here are some pictures of cheap store bought dirt that is mixed with store bought Quickcrete play sand. The sand is the finest sand I could find. It worked well for me. These pictures were taken last year.

I live in NC and our dirt is red clay so I had to find a better substrate.

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Ed

These heat lamps make my electric bill to high.

try DG ( decompossed granite) it holds a burrow rreaally well or you could try an dirt/DG mix or even a dirt/sand mix the dg holds moisture pretty well underneith it soo it wont dry out as fast as just Dirt
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.1 blue spot timor
these lamps make my room hot!!!!

Hy,

I am having trouble with the translation of "decomposed granite". Is it the same as "clay"?

If so, I have to admit I would not recommend it without mixing it with a lot of sand. Once tried it gets rock hard and does not keep moisture. I am quite struggeling with preventing it from becoming dry.

Best regards,

Timo
Link

decomposed granite is just granite rock that is very very old and is "decomposed" its just like crumbled granite im not sure exactly how to explain it, but it works,
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.1 blue spot timor
these lamps make my room hot!!!!

Here is a pic of decomposed granite, the monitor is a V. caudolineatus. If you can find the right DG it may work out for you. Myself I am going to be switching to natural dirt. It's not so easy to find good dirt.

Hy,

I can see the difference now. At least I think so.

Nice V. caudolineatus you've got. I like them a lot but they are pretty expensive here. € 950 per piece.

Greetings,

Timo

ya i know DG works good, i read about that along time ago at the PE site, but its hard to come buy around here... just going to try the dirt/sand mix. thanks again.
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0.1.0 BCI, 3 yr old
0.0.1 Ridge Tail Monitor, Juvi.
0.0.1 Leoperd Gecko, Juvi (My girlfriends)

Very nice pics, and ya, now i have a mix of sand and top soil as of yesterday and it seems decent... just have to keep it moist.

The whole people useing others pics, well, ya you gota say whos they are, but he does have a point, its your site, and your name is on the posts FR, butttttt ya just give the credit and all is good....

Thanks for all the help.
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0.1.0 BCI, 3 yr old
0.0.1 Ridge Tail Monitor, Juvi.
0.0.1 Leoperd Gecko, Juvi (My girlfriends)

I guess some of my tries at choosing dirt must have been some good luck, the red ackies are on a mixture of dirt from a local creek bank that I strained, then I added a very small percentage of some playbox sand (5% by volume maybe less).

By the way this stuff was wet, too wet this time.

This is plain field dirt.

Even these guys loved to nest in plain old field dirt, it was easier to clean the eggs than with some other substrates, I just lightly wiped it off.

nice ackies and pictures, i have herd about eh creek bed stuff too. Maybe someday i can find some.. but this stuff is working so far. thanks.
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0.1.0 BCI, 3 yr old
0.0.1 Ridge Tail Monitor, Juvi.
0.0.1 Leoperd Gecko, Juvi (My girlfriends)